ASU's offensive line turning corner

by Jeff Metcalfe - Oct. 22, 2009 03:49 PMThe Arizona Republic

There is glee at Arizona State.

Not about the poke it received this week on "Glee," the new Fox show about a high school musical club - "When my mom applied to college, she put 'being popular' as her main extracurricular activity, and she got into Arizona State" - but about an offensive line deserving of the praise that some are beginning to sing.

"I feel better now than I ever have as far as our offensive front is concerned," third-year coach Dennis Erickson said.

Garth Gerhart and Matt Hustad, both potential starters, are returning from injury this week against Stanford, and Zach Schlink might not be far behind. They are among eight sophomores or redshirt freshmen who are coming into their own yet will be around for two or three more seasons.

"It makes me feel better about the improvement we can make down the road offensively when you have some depth there," Erickson said.

Statistics bear out the improvement.

ASU is averaging 141.8 yards rushing, up from an embarrassing 89.1 last year. Just as importantly, they've given up only 11 sacks through six games after allowing a combined 89 in the previous two seasons.

A new spread offense featuring wider line splits is partly responsible. So is a campaign led by senior left tackle Shawn Lauvao to develop camaraderie that began in the off-season and continued during the summer. More than anything, the younger linemen now are big and strong enough to overcome injuries.

Gerhart, Hustad, Schlink and Mike Marcisz have missed a combined 16 games due to injuries with Marcisz (shoulder) out for the season.

"We've been playing with a gun that's only about half loaded," offensive line coach Gregg Smith said. "If we can put a bullet in every chamber then you get a chance to excel a little bit. Even with that, guys are responding and realizing what their role is."

In spite of the injuries, including Jon Hargis' ongoing shoulder problems, Smith has used the same starters at every position except right guard, where four have started, and one game at right tackle.

Gerhart and Hustad are working some with the first team this week at right guard and tackle.

Lauvao is the cornerstone. He played left guard and right tackle last year and guard before that and has started 27 consecutive games.

"When you watch him on the field, he's running around all over the place," Smith said. "And the guy who is right behind him is Hargis. The young kids are starting to move in that direction. When they watch those two running to the football after the play, that's playing for 60 minutes."

The big guys had a long way to run last week after springing Cameron Marshall for a team season high 75-yard run. Dimitri Nance is eighth in Pac-10 rushing.

"They're pretty good now once you get those guys meshing together," quarterback Danny Sullivan said of his protectors. "Those guys have experience now. They've seen everything that they can bring at them. The sacks are definitely limited and they're doing a great job especially with the run game. That zone blocking is helping us a lot, and we've got the guys to do it."

Oct. 17, 2009: Danny Sullivan hands off to Dimitri Nance (31) behind ASU's offensive line against Washington at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe. Nance, eighth in the conference in rushing, paces a ground game that nets 141.8 yards a game.